Social mobility in Britain is declining and the inequalities which have been felt for decades are set to be exasperated by the Coronavirus Pandemic. Our aim is to help reverse this decline.
For a child born in the UK today, it's recognised that their educational opportunities and life chances are strongly linked to their parents’ socio-economic background. The difficulties for many lower income families have been magnified since the pandemic and its effects are a real threat to social mobility.
Currently disadvantaged pupils in England are now as much as seven months behind their more privileged peers at school, including the gaps that grew in the last year. We want to close this gap. Not only for school aged children but also for students about to make the decision to go to University or train in a vocational course. Access to universities is a crucial component for individuals’ social mobility prospects.
Collins Educational Trust has been funding the education journey for disadvantaged people with talent for nearly 20 years and is helping create the opportunities for them to achieve.
The Social Mobility Barometer 2021 gives a timely snapshot of perceptions of where the coronavirus pandemic has impacted most, who has suffered and what needs to be done by government and others.
Some key findings from the poll on how the public thinks the COVID-19 outbreak has impacted social mobility include:
The current difficulties felt across the most disadvantaged parts of society is why Collins Educational Trust feel passionate about creating access to the best education and courses for talented young people who face these considerable barriers.
To date we have funded half a million pounds in school bursaries, specialised vocational courses and student’s studying the arts. We want to champion and support students across all of the educational spectrum, from science to animation, engineering to music.
Whilst we join others in trying to influence change in government policy we will continue to make a positive impact on the lives of each of our beneficiaries we can directly support.
